Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Microcosm to Penn State Child Sex Abuse

Wolverton writes in The Chronicles of Higher Education stating that according to the 267-page
independent report released on July 12th 2012,

“A reverence for football was largely to
blame for a series of missteps by to Pennsylvania State University
administrators in failing to report repeated allegations of child sex abuse by
Jerry Sandusky” (2012).

In
addition to this,

“Two Penn State officials—Graham B.
Spanier, the university's former president, and Joe Paterno, the revered
coach—took the brunt of criticism in the report. They and other top leaders
displayed a "total disregard for the safety and welfare" of children,
the report says, and hid critical facts from authorities about the alleged
abuses.”[. . . ]“The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps
for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized,” Mr. Freeh said
(2012).

The
report further concluded that said officials and other top leaders refrained
from coming forward to “avoid the consequences of bad publicity.”

In
addition to the revealed material, a comment was made in regards to why sex
abused children respond the way they do.

“I wonder how
much of the "pay[ing] dearly throughout their lives through issues of
trust, self-esteem, etc." is a result of the activity itself and how much
is a result of a societal "abuse infrastructure" with a vested
interest in making sure that the child knows that they are supposed have such
issues and through the whole massive majesty of the Child Services bureaucracy
and the judicial system making it clear that the only acceptable response on
the child's part is self-loathing and hatred toward the others. Carefully cultivating
the child's "victimhood" by those with a vested interest in
perpetuating such a culture of victimhood is as unfortunate as any other aspect
of this whole situation” (Eveland, 2012).

Not
only were these children being ignored during the heinous crime of sexual abuse
for 14 long years, we now have Eveland, an organizational and clinical psychologist, stating that society is conditioning
children to be victims of these heinous sex crimes and to respond with
self-loathing and hatred toward others. Where
is the understanding? Is Eveland saying that children
that undergo sexual abuse surface unscathed, and that it is only social
conditioning causing their feeling to turn them into a “culture of
victimhood?” Penn states victims as well
as many other abused children don’t get heard the first, second, or even third
and fourth time; and, when (or if) the crime is finally exposed, the children
don’t get heard once again because apparently society has conditioned this
cognitive process into their minds. A
view like this shuts the abused child down.
Rather than the abused child express his/her inner pain, he/she is
taught that what she/he feels is wrong, and that it has been socially conditioned
into her/him to feel or think this way. Where
is the justice for the child with a statement such as this? First, a child is ignored of his/her
complaints of sex abuse. Second, a child
is ignored of his/her complaints of self-loathing and hatred.

For many years, children and women have
been socialized to keep their voices quiet.
As a result, sex crimes were rarely reported. If they were reported, the children and women
were questioned in courts to the point of twisting evidence so that they were
to blame for the cause of the crime. As
a result, children and women did not come forward because they could not endure
a second blast of shame. With courage
and persistence, women and their children finally overcame this archaic and
male dominating social system. Finally,
sex abused children and women were able to begin the process of healing because
they came forward and expressed the psychological damage these crimes cause.

Penn
State’s child sex abuse is a microcosm to many families around the world
experiencing sex crimes but go unnoticed.
The Joe Paterno’s and the Graham B. Spanier’s are also some of the parents,
aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, brothers, and sisters that turn a blind eye to
the sex crimes that occur under their noses.
To demonstrate, many sex abused children around the world don’t belong
to a high profile university. Neither do they live with big-named officials,
presidents, or leaders. What Penn
State’s officials and leaders have in common with many average families that
experience sex crimes is that they refrain from coming forward to avoid the
consequences of bad publicity whether it be with mass media for Pen State or
the local community for the family. What
they don’t have in common is that the individuals from Penn State that
committed perjury and failed to report suspected abuse were at minimum brought
to court. The individuals that had a total
disregard for the safety and welfare of the children came under “scathing
public criticism,” resigned, discredited, and/or fired. Additionally, Penn State’s victims were
acknowledged for what had happened. The
people that chose to turn a blind eye to the sex crimes had minor penalties but
at least some. There was no question;
there had to be consequences for such a huge organization prominent in the
public eye. On the other hand, it’s very
different for the small families with children of sex crimes. Many aren’t noticed, acknowledged, or
understood at all.

The
shame of this tragedy is that children continue to remain in the dark unnoticed
and forgotten when it comes to these atrocious sex crimes. Then we have educated professionals that
state an unambiguously clear-cut point-of-view that could radically push back these
children to their shaded lives.

When I birthed my children I received a Canadian Health Passport from the
Ministry of Health for each child. Within
the cover, the United Nations Declares 10 Rights of the Child, the first one
being the right to affection, love, and understanding.

Penn State’s Culture of Reverence Led to
‘Total Disregard’ for Children’s Safety. (2012,

July 12). The Chronicles of Higher Education. Retrieved September 16, 2012,
from http://chronicle.com/article/Penn-States-Culture-of/132853/

About Me

Desiree is a 10 year veteran at life coaching, a counsellor, spiritual minister, a university student at UBC, blogger, entrepreneur, and mother. This blog is a resource for women for personal development, liberation, and empowerment. Desiree's blog is for entertainment purposes only. The author does not provide medical, legal, or other professional advice.